About Whose View
To learn more about how WhoseView can benefit you, please visit the learn more page.
To read what the press are saying about us, check out our press page.
WhoseView.com is an Irish Company and is about sharing your experiences within your trusted network of friends in a very fun, entertaining environment. The site was opened to public beta on July 17th 2009. Ok, enough of the corporate lines; give us the real behind the scenes interview;
The 60 Second Interview
1. How did you come up with the idea?
WhoseView.com is the brainchild of Helen McCarthy, who had an eureka moment one night when once again we found ourselves paying over the odds for another average meal when dining out. We had just moved into a new area and we were pretty clueless about the best places to eat and shop. We also wished we had a forum to learn about and share this knowledge.
Combined with Helen’s inability to purchase anything unless she had reviewed it, as well as her husbands extensive experience in Marketing and the Internet, she came up with the idea of a website that allows people to make informed choices on services and products before they spend their money. Driving this is a passionate belief that word of mouth is the most cost effective way for a business or brand to promote their product or service.
Helen has subsequently partnered with Tom Hayes of Lightbox Multimedia Ltd and together are the driving force behind Whose View.
2. How did you come up with the name?
Sitting outside a Dublin restaurant, having a good rant at the poor customer service we had just received. We actually still have the name on a napkin from that very evening – October 2007.
3. Who's behind the venture?
The site was founded by Helen McCarthy and Tom Hayes. Both in their early 30’s and passionate about the power of word of mouth! Our partners include Enterprise Ireland and Atlantic
Bridge Ventures, details of which you can view here.
3. When was it founded and how did you get the money?
Business Plan was written in January 2008, followed by many presentations to possible investors. We received a six figure investment within 60 days of road show. We kept a diary during this period, which you can read on our blog www.whoseview.com/customer-reviews
4. How would you describe your brand?
We won’t give you the boring line of “We are a social review based website etc etc……..”, because we are so much more than that. Rather we are a home for people who are not afraid to speak their mind; who like to say it as it is; who like to help others know when something is worth raving about and when it’s a complete rant. There are many sweakie clean review based websites out there, but are they really entertaining? We want to bring the celebrity and entertainment factor back into ranting and raving!
5. What other functionality makes you different?
We offer so much more than the simple service review functionality. We will also be including Product Reviews, Member Dashboard, Guides, Hall of Fame and not forgetting In the Know, which is for people to share and discuss idea’s, articles and tips on their topics of interest. Oh yes and not forgetting the user experience which is superior in the sense of content presentation, relevancy and search.
6. Who else have you partnered with?
We were lucky enough to get Enterprise Ireland (E.I) on board during our road show. Following E.I, Atlantic Bridge Venture came on board along with Lightbox Multimedia, the award winning Web development agency. We are currently in discussion with other partners.
7. What about mobile?
Mobile will be an important way in which we deliver the WhoseView.com experience and will be introduced in different versions in 2010. You can download the WhoseView iphone V1 app here.
8. How do you make money?
We will make our money from our product affiliates, while local businesses and corporate brands will pay for relevant push and pull based advertising, although primarily pull based i.e. in other words more effective advertising. There is also licensing arrangements of specific review based and web 2.0 customer feedback software.
9. Can we have a look at you?
Soon as we will post a video here of this interview.
10. What are your goals for the coming 12 months?
To fine tune our user experience, build momentum and lots of other things we will unveil over coming year.
Ok that was more than 60 seconds, but hopefully you have a better understanding of what we are about.
To learn more about how WhoseView can benefit you, please visit the learn more page.